Spotlight on Nascar: Keselowski becomes first driver to win multiple races
Published 10:43 pm Thursday, April 6, 2017
After six races, Brad Keselowski on Sunday became the first two-race winner in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series when he took the checkered flag just ahead of Kyle Busch to win at Martinsville Speedway.
Keselowski took the lead with 42 laps remaining and cruised to the win.
The win was huge for Ford as it was the first victory at the track since October 20th, 2002 when Kurt Busch, driving for Roush Fenway Racing, took the win 28 races ago.
The No. 2 Ford driver has 10 playoff points to lead the series and trails Kyle Larson by 34 points as Keselowski holds down the fourth position.
Elliott Working Toward Win in Second Full-Time Season
Chase Elliott surely is bringing smiles to his famous racing dad, Bill Elliott, as the second-year driver continues to forge ahead toward a win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Elliott drove his No. 24 Chevrolet to a third-place finish on Sunday at Martinsville which marked his third top-five finish of the season.
He also won a stage at the Paperclip and took home the Camping World Series Truck race on Saturday at the track.
His finish propelled the young driver into second place in points trailing Kyle Larson by only four points as the drivers head for Texas this weekend. He had two playoff points via two stage wins this season.
He has done well at Texas as last season he finished fifth in the spring race and fourth in the fall.
New Surface and Configuration Set to Make Debut Sunday at Texas
Sunday will be an interesting day at Texas Motor Speedway as the race track unveils the renovations that were made to the track during the offseason.
The renovations were done to ensure the best possible experience for fans which included adding an expansive French drainage system on the front stretch and backstretch, repaving the entire track including pit lane, and re-profiling Turns 1 and 2 meaning the banking was reduced from 24 to 20 degrees with the racing surface expanded from 60 to 80 feet wide.
Turns 3 and 4 of the track will remain 60 feet wide at 24 degrees of banking.
Jones Beginning to Find Groove
Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Erik Jones is showing signs of finding his groove in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as the Furniture Row Racing driver has found himself finishing in the top 15 in every race this season except Daytona where a wreck took him out of contention at the halfway mark of the race.
Jones was a prolific winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck and XFINITY Series levels.
Currently sitting at 13th in the point standings which is tops among series rookies, Jones still trails fellow rookie driver Daniel Suarez by two points for Rookie of the Year honors.
Ty Dillon is in third place, 10 points behind Suarez, while Corey Lajoie (-16) and Gray Gaulding (-38) are still in the hunt.
Stenhouse Jr. Works to Top 10 Finish at Martinsville
Needless to say, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. probably didn’t receive any flowers from Kyle Busch after Sunday’s race at Martinsville as Stenhouse Jr. took advantage of some new race enhancements to add excitement during Sunday’s STP 500 at the Paperclip.
Stenhouse Jr. bumped Busch on the final lap of stage two and passed him so he could remain on the lead lap to begin the third stage of the race.
With Stenhouse Jr.’s move, he was able to secure a 10th place finish which was good for his second top-10 of the season.
The move took a playoff point from Busch as Chase Elliott took advantage of the opportunity to nip Busch at the stripe to take the second stage.
Stenhouse Jr. will see if he can improve on his best finish at Texas on Sunday as the Roush Fenway Racing driver will attempt to do better than his previous 15th place finish at the track.
At the Starting Line
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
The Date: Sunday, April 9
The Time: 1:30 pm ET
TV: FOX, 1:30 pm ET
Radio: PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 501 miles (334 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 85), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 170), Final Stage (Ends on lap 334).
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES
Next Race: My Bariatric Solutions 300
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
The Date: Saturday, April 8
The Time: 1:30 pm ET
TV: FOX, 1 pm ET
Radio: PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 300 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on lap 200).
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Next Race: Toyota Tundra 250
The Place: Kansas Speedway
The Date: Friday, May 12
The Time: 8 pm ET
TV: FOX, 8:30 pm ET
Radio: PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 250.5 miles (167 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on lap 167).
